*** - If the only instant coffee you can get comes in granules or beads, crush them up into a powder with the back of a spoon before you add them to the cookie dough.

**** - Mother likes these with chopped walnuts. Andrea prefers pecans. I think they’re best with hazelnuts. Tracey adores these when I substitute flaked coconut for the nuts and form the dough balls around a small piece of milk chocolate.

Add the flour in half-cup increments, mixing after each addition. (You don’t have to be exact. It won’t come out even anyway! Just make sure the flour is added in three parts.)

Stir in the nuts. Do your best to make sure that they’re evenly distributed.

Form the dough into one-inch balls (just pat them into shape with your fingers) and place them on an ungreased baking sheet, 12 to a standard sheet. Press them down very slightly (they’re supposed to look like balls, but you don’t want them to roll off on their way to the oven.)

Bake the cookie balls at 325 degrees F., for 12 to 15 minutes, until they are set. (Mine took 14 minutes.)

Move the cookies from the cookie sheet to a wire rack. Let them cool on the rack completely.

When the cookies are completely cool, dip them in powdered sugar to coat them. (If you roll them in powdered sugar while they’re still warm, they have a tendency to break apart.) Let them rest for several minutes on the wire rack and then store them in a cookie jar or a covered container.

Melt the butter in a large microwave bowl. Add the sugar and mix. Then mix in the salt and the baking soda.
When the mixture has cooled to room temperature, mix in the eggs. Add the flour and stir it up. Then mix in the raisins.

Prepare your oatmeal. (Use Quakers if you have it -- the cardboard canister is useful for all sorts of things.) Measure out two cups and dump it in the food processor, chopping it with the steel blade until it's the consistency of coarse sand. Dump it in your dough and mix it all up. (This dough will be fairly stiff.)

Roll walnut-sized dough balls with your hands and place them on a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a standard sheet. (If it's too sticky to roll, place the bowl in the refrigerator for thirty minutes and try again.) Squish the dough balls down with a fork in a crisscross pattern (like peanut butter cookies.)

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.